Rev William J Harney Praying Clear Through Plus 10 Quotes

Praying Clear Through
William J. Harney, author
1915

Praying Clear Through

Rev. William J. Harney, author

Cincinnati OH: God’s Revivalist Press, 1915

253 pages 20 cm. 

Blog post by Mary Katherine May of QualityMusicandBooks.com

LINK to web article about William Harney.

Reference sources include Ancestry.com and Newspapers.com.

Biographical Information

     William J. Harney (1864-1946) was a Wesleyan Holiness evangelist and preacher who was the author of what is now considered the definitive classic work Praying Clear Through that explains a type of Christian prayer called Praying Through, meaning concentrated, earnest prayer that continues without stopping for anything until an answer is received from God.  

Rev. William J. Harney

     Harney was born the 26^th of August, 1864 to Thomas Jefferson and Eliza Luchey Harney in Nicholas County, Kentucky. 

He was a member of the 1906 class at Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, originally named Kentucky Holiness College and now Asbury University.  

Flora Truman Harney

William was married to Flora Truman and the father of at least three children: Helen Flora, Hallie and Millard.

Rev. Harney went home to be with the Lord on April 17, 1946, his death caused by coronary heart disease. His funeral was conducted on April 20, 1946 at Lexington, Kentucky, the obituary noting that he was a retired Methodist evangelist.

10 Inspirational Quotes from Praying Clear Through by William Harney.

1 Waiting upon God in secret prayer prepares one for public proclamation of His truth; prepares one to pray in the Spirit; prepares one to teach under the inspiration of the Spirit.

2 “Rejoice evermore” does not mean one must shout all the time at the top of the voice; it means to live in the spirit of rejoicing.

3 It is our choice whether we will live on the sunny side of the street, scattering sunshine, or live in the cold, damp shadows, scattering doubts, chilling the faith of His dear saints, placing mountains in the weaker brother’s pathway.

4 The disciples were blessed in the Upper Room in a ten-days prayer-meeting, and when they came from the prayer-meeting they were so qualified that, in one short service, three thousand were saved and added to the Church.

5 The Pentecostal crowd went from that ten-days prayer meeting out upon the streets of Jerusalem, preached a few moments, shouted and sang and testified, and three thousand ran to the mourner’s bench and were brightly saved that glad day.

6 Prayer is the oil that lubricates the machinery, that causes all to run smoothly; no hot boxes, no breaking of belts, no slipping of cogs, no leaking of steam, no water to put out the fire.  Prayer, prayer by the hour, daily prayer, a continuous spirit of prayer, much secret prayer, makes the Christian life a golden sunbeam, turns the birds loose in the soul, causes the flowers to bloom, the joy-bells to ring.  It makes the worship of God easy.

7 Prayer is the channel through which we reach the haven of rest.  Prayer is the channel through which God enters the soul.  Prayer is the wire over which comes the blessed news, freedom from sin.  Let us remember, never forget, that prayer is the key that unlocks Heaven.

8 Prayer is the soul conversing with God.

9 Prayer is knocking at the door; faith is the expectation that it will be opened.  Knocking is the voice of expectation—of faith.  Prayer is the breath that fans the flame of faith, and when the flame of faith reaches white heat it completely burns away the dross of sin from the heart of the believer, and the hands of sin and Satan that bind the poor sinner, so that he has the power, and is free to choose life.

10 God needs giants today, and we get the giant strength by waiting before Him.

Asbury College, Class of 1906: W.J. Harney at Upper Right
Wilmore, Kentucky

ACCEPTABLE PRAYER

Acceptable prayer includes in it the offering up of the desires of the heart to God, agreeable to His will, and with a fervency of spirit proportioned to the blessing we ask for, in humble dependence on the Holy Spirit’s help, a constant reference to the finished work and intercession of Christ, and a faith that is the “substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.”

DEFINITENESS IN PRAYER

The prayer that prevails is strikingly specific.  It narrows itself right down to one object, which presses itself on the attention, and on the heart, and fills the vision, and becomes for the time the supreme object to be sought, and obtained, if need be, by the supreme act of the life of the petitioner.  He who is cold and formal in his Christian life, spreads his prayer out, and around the whole world, it may be, covering all subjects but the one most needed to be prayed for now, while the soul all alive, and on fire, and in holy, intimate and conscious fellowship with “the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ,” focuses all the energies of his being, for the present, on just one object of prayer, and holds on for that till he gets it.